1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the art of maneuvering a payload within and without a payload bay, and more particularly to a stabilized payload deployment system and to a method and an apparatus for carefully and for safely handling a payload in or near the cargo bay of an orbiter.
2. Background Art
In the field of the present invention it has been known to eject a payload from an orbiter cargo bay in a manner such that the payload is left with some small lingering momentum before it has been fully deployed. This can be hazardous when the payload has not cleared that portion of the orbiter structure defining the cargo bay. In other words, the payload can collide with the orbiter.
In the prior art, the payload has been maneuvered from a location inside the cargo bay to a location outside thereof. This is done largely by imparting some momentum to the payload and letting the payload "coast" as an essentially weightless body from within to without the bay. This is risky because the payloads while moving inside the bay, can collide with the orbiter. Note will be taken that the orbiter has a ponderous mass. Further, even the payload may also have a rather ponderous mass. The sizes of these masses thus make considerable damage possible should there be a collision.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,079,904 discloses an extendable rack for exchanging small modules within a payload by utilizing a manipulator arm.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,324,374 discloses payload ejection from a shuttle by means of a cradle (col. 3, lines 6-12 and 47-52).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,359,201 discloses "a payload such as a spacecraft" which is deployed from a launch vehicle with linear and angular velocity (abstract).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,618,112 discloses a payload ejection system for rotating the same (abstract).
U.S. Pat. No. 4,554,905 discloses a space shuttle orbiter having apparatus for spinning and propelling probes or satellites from a payload bay (col. 1, lines 44-48 and col. 2, lines 35-43).